Various types of fiber optics connectors are known in the art. Generally these connectors are made by first precisely positioning the fiber in a connector housing, then gluing the fiber in its precise position to the connector housing and finally machining and polishing the butt end of the optical fiber, thus glued, to define a connector surface. It is also known to crimp the optical fiber prior to gluing in order to prevent longitudinal movement thereof during the subsequent steps.
The above-described technique of producing fiber optics connectors is extremely slow and time consuming and is therefore very costly. The limited throughput of connectors is presently considered a principal limiting factor to the widespread use of fiber optics apparatus.
There is known in U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,363 a package for optical devices including an optical fiber to metal hermetic seal which includes a solder seal. There are also known in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,264,128 and 4,482,201 techniques for positioning optical fibers in a connector using filler material, such as a polymerized resin.